Driving device



(No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 1, A. E. BROWN. DRIVING DEVIOE. No. 453,617.

Patented June 9,1891.

Sig. 12.

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A. E. BROWN. DRIVING DEVIGE.

No. 453,617. Patented June 9,1891.

4 ATTORNEY.

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' (No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 3.

A. E. BROWN. DRIVING DEVICE.

No. 453,617, Patented J'une'Q, 1891.

1V] T N15551: S. [N VEN TOR.

d ATTORNEY.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

A. E. BROWN.

DRIVING DEVICE. "No. 453,617. Patented June 9,1891.

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ATTORNEY.

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ALEXANDER E. BROlVN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

DRIVING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,617, dated June 9,1891.

Application filed January 31, 1891. Serial No. 379,840. (No modelo T0aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Machine, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to that class of shop tools and appliances 1 )ywhich wheels, sheaves, pulleys, and similar work when placed fortreatment upon. the plate or table of a lathe or planer are afforded therequisite support against the strain of the cutting-tool; and the objectof my invention may be said to be to provide a series of drivers adaptedfor use in situations and for the purposes above indicated, whichdrivers, first, will simultaneously arrange themselves in the samedegree of contactlwith the piece to be operated upon relatively to eachother as soon as such piece is brought into bearing with the severaldrivers, and, second, will maintain such relative degree of contact,however often or considerably the resistance at one or more of thedriving-points may vary.

In an application filed by me under date of March 23, 1889, and. bearinSerial No. 304,559, I have shown and described its drawings andspecifications, for the most part identical with those hereof. On saidapplication, however, I founded and declared a generic claim (coveringthe invention involved broadly) and also two specific claims, whichlatter include the special forms or varieties of devices shown anddescribed, wherein plunger-s and pistons are operating anddistinguishing features. Accordingly all matter which is herein shownand described, but not claimed, and which also is claimed in my saidapplication dated March 23, 1889, and serially numbered 304,559, ishereby disclaimed in favor of said former application and as forming nopart of the invention sought to be secured by the present application.

The only driver in use in the shops or, so far as I am aware, which hasyet been devised, except by my invention, is essentially an arm or barwhich either pierces the baseplate or table or travels in the ordinaryT- slots therein, and is designed to be made to meet the work undertreatment at various points after successiveindependent manipulations,and to be then and there firmly sccured in position. The use of thesedrivers, however, is consequently attended with certain well-recognizeddisadvantages, of which, perhaps, the principal disadvantage is theinability to secure such a resultant bearing among all the driversemployed as will equally and certainly divide up the resistance incurredat the particular point where a cutis being made.

In the prevailing method of securing work upon a face-plate the firstdriver is fastened upon or through said plate, and the work is thenturned about on the mandrels until pressed into close contact with thesame. The operator then locates the second and additional drivers atother parts of the plate and into such bearing relations as appear tohim at the moment to be as nearly as practicable identical with thecontact or bearing degree of the first driver. The preliminary stages ofthe operation of placing these drivers are obviousl y largelydepeinlent, so far as satisfactory results are concerned, upon theskill, care, and particular experience of the individual operator; andyet, however capable is the latter, there are certain to occur, duringhis necessary movement in testing and securing the second and successivedrivers, sufficient jars, variations, or relaxations from the originalbearings to develop in the ultimate bearings ot each separate driver,and in spite of every precaution awide diiterence in the degree ofcontact sought and that actually attained. The plain consequence of suchinequality in driving contact that the resistance to the cutting-tool,instead of being taken, up at the point of application and evenlydistributed throughout all points of support, is thrown upon but two ormore of the drivers, and the strain unduly concentrated upon a few,instead of the many, points of the work under treatment.

A well-known result ot the mode of fastenin g work just described is afrequent and undesirable chatter oi the same under the tool, and also,in the reduction of frail pieces, either a wasteful percentage ofbreakage or such a l'ieccssary diminution of speed or cut as equallyenhances the cost of turning and reducing the articles in question. Itis the design of the constructions herein shown and ICO described toavoid. the defects and disadvantages oi the character above referred to,and at the same time to provide appliances in their especial departmentswhich present corresponding merits of exceptional importance and value.I attain these objects by the devices illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein appear several forms embodying my invention orconstituting modifications thereof. I

Figure I is a face or front view of a driving-arm adapted to be carriedand actuated by a plunger device hereinafter specified. Fig. II is aside view of the same drivinga'rm mounted on its plunger. Fig. III is aside view of the front face of a specially-constructed chuck or plate,through which a set or series of three of my driving-arms project. Fig.IV is the reverse view of the same plate, showing through broken ordotted lines the essential connections of such a series, and a detailview of the novel operating parts thereof. Fig. V is a semi-transversevertical section of a plate or body especially constructed as aconvenient mode of presenting a set of drivers in acompact thoughsomewhat restricted form. Fig. VI is atransverse vertical section indetail of a modification of my invention adapted to be bolted orotherwise affixed to an ordinary chuck or faceplate in sets of two ormore. An especiallyconstructed plate, as appears in the precedingfigures, is not an essential requisite to the use of the device hereshown. Fig. V-II represents the device last described affixed, in a fulloperative series, to a face-plate havin g the component members thereofcon nected by independent tubing D D. Fig. VIII illus trates a furtheradaptation of my general invention in the form of a set or series ofdrivers actuated, not bythe plungers, as is the case in Figs. I to VII,but by and upon a diaphragm in a manner hereinafter more fullyexplained, and displaying the peculiarities which are the subject of thespecific inventions covered by the claims of this application. In thesaid series separate and independent tubular connections D D areemployed between the several driver-carriages and their chambers A A,and similarly with the series shown in Fig. VII, the device is adaptedto be fixed at will to an ordinary face-plate or workingtable. Fig. IXis a detail transverse vertical section of one of the drivers shown inFig. VIII through the line a: y thereof. Fig. X is another variety ofthe special forms of my driving device to which those shown in Figs.VIII and IX likewise pertain. The drivers, however, which in the devicesof the latter figures appear as appendant to separate bodies orcarriages, are in Fig. X permanently located at definite points orportions of a single frame or form, and the ducts for intercommunicationwith the several chambers A A, beneath said drivers, are fixed andintegral with said form. The latter is not necessarily restricted toother peculiarities of contour or structure. Fig. XI is a transversevertical section through said form (shown in Fig. X) through the line a0.

Pointing out now more particularly the various features shown anddesignated in the drawings, the operation and scope of the inventionherein claimed will at the same time readily appear. It will be observedthat in every instance B B designates the drivingarm, which, in actualoperation, is to bear di' rectly against either the work in hand or thedog amxed thereto. In Figs. I to VII the arms 13 B are mounted upon theplungers? P, which latter are adapted to reciprocate chambers A A, andalso to close the said chambers against the escape of the oil or otherfiuid within. A form of construction is read ily conceived wherein theouter extremities of said plunger, either themselves constitute thedrivers by hearing directly and immediately upon the work in the line oftheir centers, or where said plungers instead of being mounted by are sobent as to perform the functions of the driving-arms B B, therebydispensing with the latter parts either wholly or as separate details.In Figs. I to V said plungers carry the driving-arms B B, and to gain infirmness of action are preferably extended to enter an exterior guide.

The distinguishing feature of the devices shown in Figs. VIII to XI, ascompared with those shown in the remaining figures of the drawingsherewith, is that in the former class the plungers P P, as distinctdetails, are dispensed with, and the ofiice thereof is performed by aflexible or elastic diapragm of any material suitable. Said diaphragmcloses the chambers A A and is actuated by and upon the driving-arms BB. IVhen this variety of construction is adopted, the said driving-armsB B may take any form deemed most convenient-as that, for instance,shown in the said drawings, Figs. VIII to XI-and may be pivoted orotherwise fitted to turn about a fixed point, as at p, when exposed toresistance at either extremity. In every form of construction theseveral chambers A'A are connected by intercommunicating channels orducts D D, terminating, respectively, at points within the saidchambersAA. "Where, however, as in one possible form of construction, asingle common chamberis substituted for a series of two or more, thenecessity of said channels or ducts is correspondingly diminished. Toregulate the space for the con taincd fluid and to admit the same, areciprocating plug may be located at any convenient and suitable point,as at S in Fig. IV. In the devices illustrated in the drawings hereinfrom Figs. I to V, inclusive, the said intercommunicating channels D D,and also the chambers A A, into which the plungers P P are there shownas reciprocating, are integral with a face-plate or chuck, which admitsthe said driving-arms B B to pass through orifices in said plate andappear at points on the reverse face thereof, as in Fig. III, and thereserve bearings for the spokes of a wheel, the dogs on a shaft, or otherwork in the pro cess of turning or planing. Said orifices are of coursesufficiently commodious to permit the arms B B to play therein,according as their several plungers advance or retreat. The devicesappearing in Figs. VI and VII, on the other hand, are especiallycharacterized by the fact that the chambers into which the said plungersreciprocate are within and a part of as manycylindrically-hollowplungercarriages, each of which is wholly separateand distinct from the other plunger-carriages of the series, save in thefeature of the interconnecting ducts. The latter, as in the devicesshown, may themselves be entirely independent of a special frame orintegral construction.

The various constructions just described, as well as those appearing inFigs. VIII and IX, are provided with bolts or other suitable means forfastening them at points on the surface of the plate F desired. Apreferable detail of construction is shown in Fig. VI,where to completethe ch amberA, a concentric tubular cap T enters the originalchamber-cavity and into bearing upon the packing 'm.

Figs. VIII and IX are further specific forms of my invention and of theparticularvariety last above referred to. The peculiarity of the latterforms, as regards especially the forms shown in the prior figures, ashas been explained above, is the substitution of a metallic or othervibratory diaphragm for the said plungers PP. Said diaphragm is firmlyseated across and so as to securely close the outer orifice of the saidchamber A, which orifice, in the drawings, is through the upperhorizontal surface of the plunger-carriage, instead of in a verticalface thereof, as in the devices of Figs. VI and VII. A series of threeof said plunger-carriages is represented in the drawings as supporting awheel IV, against which. the cutting-tool t is applied in the usualposture.

It is perhaps needless to add that in. none of the devices hereinbeforedescribed and shown is the precise number of drivers constituting aseries material, but that such detail is determined entirely by thepreference of individual operators.

To operate said devices, the intercommunieating channels D D and thechambers A A are filled with oil, water, glycerine, or any othersuitable liquid or mobile fluid. Vhen the separate forms are employedindependent of a connecting or common frame or chuck, as in Figs. III,IV, V, and X, the plunger-carriages are so located that the face of thedriving-arms upon their plungers are each in operative proximity to thework to be handled at whatsoever points resistance is desired. In suchpositions said carriages are firmly bolted or otherwise secured to theface-plate or working-table. Of course the external form and surface ofsaid carriages are such as to admit of their resting upon and beingfirmly fixed to the front face of the said plate, as described, or sothat, if preferred, the said appliances may be located upon the reverseof the base or face plate with the driving-arms B B projecting throughsuitable openings therein in the manner indicated in theespecially-constructed false face-plate in Fig. III. The work to betreated having been forced closely upon the drivers by the resistance ofthe cuttingtool upon the work itself, it is apparent that the plungcrsof said drivers, each now pressing within its chamber A against a commonand unyielding fluid, have simultaneously and instantly adjustedthemselves to such position that the said driving-arms have the samedegree of bearing contact one as the other. It is further apparent thatafter this uniform initial degree of bearing contact has so been securedthere will be no subsequent yielding at any of the bearings, butwhatever strain. is cast upon any one in the course of the treatment towhich the supported work is subjected will, by means of the commonunelastic fluid through the ducts D D and the chambers A A, beinstantaneously comm unicated to and shared by all the others.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire on this application to secure by LettersPatent, is-- 1. In an equalizing driving apparatus for the purposespecified, the combination of a series of two or more drivers ordriving-arms, each in operative contact with a flexible dia-' phragm, asuitable plate or frame adapted to be secured to a lathe, boring-mill,or other machine-tool supporting the same, and a fluid body confined ina common chamber or a series of intercommunicating chambers by saidflexible diaphragms, against the common pressure of which the saiddrivers or drivingarms and diaphragms act and are resisted.

2. In an equalizing driving apparatus for the purpose specified,thecombination of a series of two or more drivers or driving-arms, each inoperative contact with a flexible diaphragm, a series of two or moresuitable bodies or frames adapted to be secured to the face-plate of alathe, boring-mill, or other machinetool, each supporting one of saiddrivers or driving-arms and its flexible diaphragm, and a fluid. bodyconfined in intercommunicatin g chambers by said flexible diaphragms,against the common pressure of which the said drivers or driving-armsand diaphragms act and are resisted.

ALEX. E. BROWN.

' Witnesses:

M. MILLARD, Gno. C. WING.

IIO

